Not if this is against the rules or not...
but on my travels through the interweb I stumbled across this. It's a booklet given to the American soldiers in WW2 when they arrived in the UK to explain what the people and day-to-day life and culture is like, an interesting read.

www.hardscrabblefarm.com/ww2/britain.htm
(evilengine, Fri 4 Oct 2013, 0:17, 13 replies)

Hoodies, bouncers, drunks, haircuts and meat
One of the last times I visited Britain was during winter and here's a collection of things I disliked:

Not being allowed in a shopping mall because I was wearing a hoodie. It was winter, what should I be wearing?

Visiting a lovely little cider house in the country, lots of adults enjoying themselves and all well behaved despite the amount of alcohol consumed. Get a taxi in to the city afterwards and stop by the local chip shop - greeted by a bouncer on the door and before I could even ask why there was a bouncer at a chip shop a fight broke out in the queue.

Another night out, walking down the street and in front of me a girl slips on a patch of ice. I go to help her, my brother warns me not to, I think he's being a dick so proceed with my gentlemanly ways. As I try to pick her up from the icy floor she starts screaming blue murder, ranting and raving as if I was attacking her.

The haircuts. What the flaming hell is going on with all the men's haircuts. I understand that due to high house prices there's a generation of people that would rather spend their hard-earned money on cars and holidays but it seems that there's also a high proportion of men that splodge all their cash at Toni and Guy. Just walking in to a pub was a complete culture shock - to the point where I was laughing out loud.

I do miss the food though. Faggots, kebab meat, black pudding - basically anything inventive with left over meat.
(durtydriscoll, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 22:01, 6 replies)

Generally speaking
I quite love Britain.

And I somewhat hate it.
(roysin, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 21:50, 3 replies)

I love radio 4 in the morning
wordplay, wit and hyper-polite ripping of politicians to bits. Evening comedy is good too - its not even remotely ashamed to make jokes that a good proportion of the audience wont get.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 21:35, 8 replies)

I love the great British Pub
Intelligent conversation
Proper beer and stout
No obligation to tip
etc.


I hate the great British Pub

Pissed up wankers wanting to start a fight
Shoving at the bar at closing time
Overpriced beer
etc.
( social hand grenade I was a lurker before you were a lurker, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 21:30, 3 replies)

London 2012
Now I'm not one given much to jingoism/nationalism but there have been rare occasions when I feel proud to be British. Mostly these reasons are tea related but one national even sticks out in my mind.

Obviously I'm not talking about the Olympics here but the rioting that happened just prior. Watching the news I saw gangs of yoof hurling bricks , bottles and the odd molotov at the police. The police themselves where fighting back with baton charges and tear gas. I was awestruck, this was it I was watching London, our nations capital burn. This was was the setting to this gleaming moment of national pride that I felt.

You see, in the midst of all this carnage and anarchy the rioters had managed to break open the shutters of an electronics store. As the missiles flew and the fires raged around these rioters formed an orderly queue to loot it .

I honestly felt like standing up and saluting the telly.
( willenium Fist bump for verification, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 21:00, 27 replies)

I love the Brirtish summer.
I love beer gardens on a Sunday afternoon, no country does pubs as well as the British.
I love a load of like minded souls getting off their chops in a field until the sun comes up.
I love the TV and sense of humour.
I love the food.

I hate the way the light washes the colour out of everything in the winter.
I hate the continuous moaning.
I hate bigots masquerading as people who uphold British values.
I hate the tabloid press.
I hate what politics have become.
I hate the food.

I know I've said I love and hate the food, but I feel it's a reasonable view.
( The Awful Puppy Bakery is still bored, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 20:39, 3 replies)

the NHS.
That organisation has helped me and so many friends and relatives over the years.
I saw a couple of girls at last week@s demo in Manc with 2 separate placards. One said , thanks NHS you fought for my mum. The other said, now I'm here to fight for you. Fucking great, the NHS. Saved me a few times.
(Pookie Bear had some very shiny foez, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 20:38, 15 replies)

When I started my very first job in London, and my boss made himself a cup of tea at 10 am, then spent a good hour and a half reading the paper
I thought "this is the country where I want to be"
( cumquat may will not be commenting further on the allegations, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 20:34, 1 reply)

It isn't France.
For both parts of the question.
( Infidel , shit and wrong, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 20:32, 1 reply)

I love our good old british swear words
I hate people that can't swear properly, always using Fuck and cunt at every opportunity without being able to use it in the right context. The very same people that pronounce the" g" on the end of fucking.
First to say fuck off cunt is a cunt. Na na na naaa na.
blows raspberry.
(boarders You won't catch me with my trousers, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 19:56, 21 replies)

As a stranger to this planet
currently stranded here pending repairs to my TARDIS, I obviously have no allegiance to any nation on Earth.

I chose to make my base of operations in Britain for one reason, the same reason that I love the place.

It is highly tolerant of crazy, wacky, weird and wonderful eccentrics like me.

Me me me me meeeeeeee!

Xorxes grilasperating orsksksksksssssssss!

That is all.

Dktr S
(Dr Skagra glorious glargzhem, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 19:42, 4 replies)

Marmite

( The Great Architect is still waiting for his account to be deleted on, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 19:41, 4 replies)

I love
* that our fascists are so stupid, Mosley announced his plan to unite the country by vilifying the Jews - at a dinner party hosted by Baron Israel Sieff and a bunch of other top Jewish businessmen
(http://youtu.be/D8-Xso-4rro?t=7m46s)
* that our modern racist gangs are lampooned by turning their rants into songs
(http://youtu.be/AIPD8qHhtVU)
* and that our current bunch of idiots in government are mostly just fannying about in the middle of the political spectrum, all trying to be more moderate than each other
( Invisible Wizard - 10th Level Nerf-herder, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 19:39, 2 replies)

I fucking hate Blighty
That's why I now live in Canada.

The End.
( PooPants, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 19:14, 17 replies)

IT'S NOT ENGLAND ANY MORE ITS BRITAINISTAN
SEND ALL THE BULGARIANS BACK TO BUDDHA
( Amorous Badger NAKED BEA ARTHUR PHOTOS 4U, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 19:00, 3 replies)

The thing I hate most about Britain
Is the way that everyone's always over-generalising about everything all the time.
(Eukanuba, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 18:58, 3 replies)

Picking up on golddust's post down there
What I hate (well mildly anyway) is that a request for reason is now often labelled "right wing Daily Mail thinking" without any examination of context of the statement or the author.
I suspect that reason stayed where it always lived but accusations of Fascism have in many cases replaced effort.
( edjogs Collared doves are shit., Thu 3 Oct 2013, 18:24, 38 replies)

I watched the trailer for the upcoming channel 4 series 'Sent to Coventry' before it was deleted from Youtube...

Sweet shitting Jesus.
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Thu 3 Oct 2013, 18:15, 3 replies)

Chavs and pikeys.
It's hard to find words which adequately describe the euphoric feeling I have when I'm reminded how I escaped from daily exposure to the UK's chav culture.

People in Britain like to mock North America because it has trailer trash and rednecks, conveniently turning the shitlight away from their own all too prevalent scum.
But Britain is full of people like that, an overbreeding underclass is crawling around almost everywhere. Even the middle-England Daily Mail loving Cotswold villages I grew up in now have gangs of chavs with over-muscled dogs on strings lurking outside the mini-mart.
I was back in the UK for a visit last year and I'd been in the country less than 2 hours before I witnessed two track-suited greasy twats from a feral pack punch another guy at a bus stop for "pushing me wiv your bag you cunt". He was walking by, they stood in his way and blocked the path, he couldn't even go around as there were barriers on the path and he brushed them with a huge backpack he was wearing.

In contrast the "people of Wal-Mart" are a blessing.
( Infidel , shit and wrong, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 18:12, 21 replies)

I love being British
We have sarcasm and irony for a start.
Imagine being a merkin where everything is face value?

I love our passive aggressive-ness. I love how we queue patiently.

I love how we have beautiful countryside, mountains and cities side by side.

Im not overly fond of our yob culture, abused benefits system or politics.

Could be a lot worse though, when you look at Middle Eastern troubles.
( GeordieJay Bummers are deaf, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 17:24, Reply)

I like traditional British food:
toad in the hole, bangers and mash, bubble and squeak, pork pies, fish and chips, plum pudding, soft boiled eggs with toast and marmite, fruit cake, mixed grill, Hovis bread, trifle. I don't suppose anybody eats it anymore, but when it is good it is good, when it's bad it's fucking awful.

Oh, I almost forgot - spotted dick.
(the other guy not the one that gave you coochie warts, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 17:13, 3 replies)

People in UK are v. v. friendly. Even stuck-up southern cunts.
I've lived abroad in Europe for a long time. Nearly 25 years but I get back to UK fairly regularly. When I'm there I'm in a nice "rich bit" in the south-east. If you listened to northerners you'd think everyone south of Watford Juction was a stuck-up cunt but no. Not at all. Out for a walk anywhere out-of-town and people will say hello and pass a few words along the lines of "lovely weather for the time of year" or "got your umbrella?" FFS even women half my age will smile if they catch my eye. Perhaps in pity but nevertheless. It isn't the same in Italy, France or much of Eastern Europe and if you bump into someone out for a walk they'll resolutely look away. I say "hello" just to annoy them. I've heard the USA is v. friendly too, so I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush.
Keep it up lads and lasses. It's lovely. Don't let the change in the composition of the population cause it to disappear. Bend them to your will. Say "hello". Smile. Chat.
(Roger Darce sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 17:08, 3 replies)

I hate this country cos cops call you a PAEDO!
But it's also good cos you can punch them out and not get busted.

*sings national anthem* (theme from The Great Escape)
( Fray Brentos *mega-belms*, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 16:46, 1 reply)

Life in a northern town is depressing as hell.

( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 16:26, 2 replies)

Jingoism
So my (then) girlfriend's brother was over from Canada and we'd all gone out for a bunch of beers to celebrate. He was telling me all about how much he liked Canada and preferred it to the UK. I asked if it was the small-minded jingoism that he disliked, just as he was peeling off his shirt to show everyone his new three lions tattoo.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 16:14, 3 replies)

I love
the sound of children with delightful local accents calling out with glee as they kick a football around the streets on a gentle summer's evening, just late enough that soon their mothers will call them in for a tea of toad in the hole and bread and butter pudding. I hear their joyful noises over the top of the stirring final strains of one of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance Marches, whilst I stand by the mantelpiece in my Old English cottage, bent almost double, wanking like a gibbon over a photo of Kate Middleton.

Meanwhile I dislike all the jingoism and pointless nostalgia.
(SnowyTheWereRabbit the Leporid from Hell, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 16:10, 2 replies)

I love the explosion of cheap Eastern European labour.
Blowjobs have never been cheaper.
( Albert Marshmallow is a completely irredeemable cunt, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 15:56, 1 reply)

Understatement.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 3 Oct 2013, 15:49, 3 replies)